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From NASA Parker solar probe nailed its fourth swing after Venus on February 20, and mission scientists celebrated by posting a stunning image captured during a similar maneuver in July.
Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 with a daring mission: to fly closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft. But along the way, the probe must pass Venus a total of seven times, each pass bringing the spacecraft closer to the sun. And while Parker Solar Probe is designed to study the sun, if a spaceship is to pass our “evil twin” planet anyway, too turn on the instruments, the team figured.
On July 11, 2020, the spacecraft made its third flight over Venus, 7,693 miles (12,380 kilometers) from the planet, according to a statement from NASA. During the maneuver, the team turned on the spacecraft’s Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument to take a look at Venus – with amazing results.
Related: A chain of planets sparkles in the photos of 3 different solar probes
WISPR is designed to capture distant visible light images of phenomena surrounding the sun, such as the solar wind which constantly throws charged particles from the sun through the solar system or coronal mass ejections which spew drops of matter into space. , according to NASA.
So this is not your typical planetary glamor plan: there is no color, no intricate clouds, no cosmic sharpness.
But it’s a fascinating sight from Earth’s neighbor, and one that scientists are still analyzing, according to the NASA statement. The shining edge around the edge of Venus may be the light of individual oxygen atoms in the the upper atmosphere of the planet pairing up, creating what is known as the nightlight since it occurs on the shaded side of the planet.
The streaks that we see crossing the image also provide a puzzle. Some can be traces of cosmic rays while others can be dust reflecting sunlight into the camera and others can be tiny particles from the spacecraft itself thrown by the dust.
But the real highlight is Venus itself, which looks nothing like what scientists expected to see with WISPR. “WISPR is designed and tested for visible light observations,” said Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland in the statement. “We expected to see clouds, but the camera looked down to the surface.”
Specifically, the instrument captured the surface temperature differences on Venus. The dark spot in the center of the planet’s image is a huge region of the highlands that scientists call Aphrodite Terra. Here, scientists know the rock is cooler, about 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) compared to neighboring areas, according to NASA.
WISPR seeing this temperature difference could mean that something strange is happening in the thick atmosphere of Venus that allows the instrument to see through the clouds. Or, it could mean that WISPR can effectively pick up near infrared light that it was not technically designed to see, which could create new opportunities for observing the spacecraft’s primary target, the sun. “Either way,” said Vourlidas, “exciting scientific opportunities await us”.
To determine which scenario is in play, WISPR took similar photos during Parker Solar Probe’s fourth Venus flyby, which took place on February 20. At the time of the closest approach, at 3:05 p.m. EST (2005 GMT), the spacecraft entered 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from the Venus surface, according to a NASA statement.
However, these images will not arrive on Earth until the end of April. The spacecraft’s next milestone will be a close approach to the sun on April 29; its next flight over Venus is scheduled for October 16.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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